17. AB absurdly insert fro before the byginning.
18. first the] þe C; AB omit.
§ 38, l. 1. warpyng MP; werpynge C; weripinge (sic) A.
2. first a CP; AB omit.
3, 4. an euene C; a enene AB (twice).
8. fro the centre; i.e. above the centre. The length of the pin, measured from the centre in which it is inserted, is to be not more than a quarter of the diameter, or half the radius. This would make the ratio of the gnomon to the shadow (or radius) to be one-half, corresponding to an altitude a, where tan a = ½; i.e. to an altitude of about 26½°. As Chaucer talks about the sun's altitude being 25½° at about 9 o'clock, at the time of the equinoxes (sect. 3), there is nothing that is particularly absurd in the text of this section. For Mr. Brae's conjectural emendations, see p. 56 of his edition.
16. tak thanne] so in P; tak me thanne AB; take me þan C. But there seems no sufficient reason for thus inserting me here.
§ 39. At this point MS. A, which has so far, in spite of occasional errors of the scribe, afforded a very fair text, begins to break down; probably because the corrector's hand has not touched the two concluding sections, although section 40 is much less corrupt. The result is worth recording, as it shews what we may expect to find, even in good MSS. of the Astrolabe. The section commences thus (the obvious misreadings being printed in italics):—
'This lyne Meridional ys but a Maner descripcion or the ymagined, that passeth vpon the pooles of þis the world And by the cenyth of owre heued / And hit is the same lyne Meridional / for in what place þat any maner man [omission] any tyme of the yer / whan that the sonne schyneth ony thing of the firmament cometh to his verrey Middel lyne of the place / than is hit verrey Midday, þat we clepen owre noon,' &c.
It seems clear that this apparent trash was produced by a careless scribe, who had a good copy before him; it is therefore not necessary to reject it all as unworthy of consideration, but it is very necessary to correct it by collation with other copies. And this is what I have done.